Our Washington colleague Colby Itkowitz ably captures Specter's spirit in an obituary running in this morning's editions of The Grown-Up Paper. But for now, here's some thoughts from two people who worked with Specter,

Chris Nicholas, Specter's campaign manager, said Specter would wear through three sets of staff that were half his age. Nicholas would be on the phone with his boss who would inevitably get called away at some point during the call. Whether Specter called back two hours later or the next day, he'd pick up the conversation with the very next word in the sentence where he'd left off.

"He just put it on hold in his head … and he just assumed you could follow along," Nicholas said. "He never asked you to work any harder than he worked himself."

Adrienne Baker Green, a political consultant from Lower Macungie Township,Lehigh County, worked 13 years as a top aide for Specter. He was demanding, she admitted, calling her sometimes at 6 a.m. to discuss an issue, but when her mother, then state Rep. Jane Baker, was in a serious car accident Specter told Green her job would be waiting, no matter how long her mother's recovery took.

"He was tough, but he was all about getting things done," Green said. "He never said there's nothing we can do about that. He always said, 'How are we going to get this done?' No one fought harder for the little guy."

For comments from other Pennsylvania political figures, including Gov. Tom Corbett and both of Pennsylvania's current U.S. senators, check our post from Sunday.

A funeral is scheduled for Tuesday at Har Zion temple in Penn Valley, Montgomery County, and will be open to the public, followed by a private burial in Huntingdon Valley, Montgomery County.

The rest of today's news starts after the jump.

GOP Treasurer Candidate ...
... Diana Irey Vaughan told a Lancaster-based Christian group Saturday that she felt called to run for the statewide row office.
"[God] calls the ordinary, as I was and I am, to do his extraordinary work," she said. "We have to be a Christian army. We have to fight to return to a Christian nation,"
Irey Vaughan made her remarks before the Lancaster County chapter of ACTION-PA (Americans for Christian Traditions in Our Nation). The group has five chapters statewide, the Intelligencer-Journal reported.

Republican Legislative Leaders ...
... are setting aside a controversial measure that would make it easier for charter schools to form and are instead spending a final week of votes on other regulatory issues, the Post-Gazette reports this morning.
Those measures include the formation of a new commission charged with examining funding mandating annual independent audits and requiring the state to directly pay charter schools, unless the schools opt to continue collecting from their sending districts, House GOP spokesman Steve Miskin told the newspaper.

For All The Talk ...
... about cutting Pennsylvania's debt, state lawmakers are adding to it, the Tribune-Review reports.
The House, for instance, recently passed an already-approved Senate bill authoriwing $1.7 billion in new borrowing. But a House bill that would lower the state's debt is in park in the Senate, the newspaper notes.
Interest on the debt limit increase will cost state taxpayers $2.3 billion to $2.5 billion over 20 years, based on interest rates ranging from 3.25 percent to 4 percent, the Trib' reported.

What Goes On.Gov. Tom Corbett holds a 10:15 a.m. newser in the Capitol Media Center to announce how much cash the state has gleaned from Marcellus shale impact fee collections.
U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., holds an 11:15 a.m. newser at the PA Manufacturers Association HQ on State Street to release a new report on (duh) manufacturing.

You Say It's Your Birthday Dept.
Best wishes go out this morning to reader Charles Senft of York. Congratulations.

On The Capitol Ideas iPod This Morning.
Here's a recent favorite. It's Of Monsters and Men with "Little Talks."

Monday's Gratuitous Soccer Link.
With Baltimore's heartbreaking exit from the post-season on Friday, we return our attentions to the Beautiful Game. Our apologies to those of you who have been calling for a return to daily soccer news (and there have been more than we expected). We were just having too much fun watching baseball this year.
The suits at Liverpoolsay they're looking to redevelop their home at Anfield and not move to a new stadium, the Guardian reports this morning. We had to read this twice to make sure they weren't referring to the actual team -- which is in dire need of redevelopment.

OK. That's it for now. We'll be back throughout the day with more news and updates. See you all back here in a bit.